Ian Bremmer

We have to understand that if Putin ever got into a position in his headspace

like Prigozhin was, either because of external threat to him or internal threat to him, he's not going to pull a Gorbachev where he, you know, sort of steps down without a fight.

No, Putin would go down with guns blazing.

And absolutely, that means that nuclear use has gotten much closer today than it has been when I was growing up in the arms control age, in the day after age of the Cold War.

in the 70s and 80s.

This is a much more dangerous environment than that.

And the Russia-Ukraine war is the tip of the spear for what a major global war might eventually turn into.

Look, it's a longstanding relationship between these two men, these two dictators, these two leaders that are both leaders for life.

You know, Russia nominally has elections, but not really.

China nominally has a selection process, but Xi Jinping has ended that when it comes to himself.

They've known each other now for, you know, decades, and they meet continually on the global stage.

I mean, Xi Jinping visits Putin on his birthday.

It's a big deal.

And they trust each other in ways that go well beyond relations between traditional American presidents and European leaders.

I mean, pre-Trump.

And that's because they understand that they have to have each other's back because nobody else will.

Now, there are limits to the relationship.

It's an asymmetrical relationship.

China's much more powerful economically.

China's much more powerful technologically.